Help Wanted: Dothan Animal Shelter

The personnel board has already agreed to hire two more employees for the Dothan Animal Shelter. The only thing standing in the way is a vote by the city commission.

Every day more animals are added to a shelter that is already stretched thin. For years the only additions to shelter’s staff have been volunteers and helpers from the wiregrass Rehabilitation Center.

Barbara Seaman has been a volunteer at the shelter for the past year. She tries to come and clean at least three times a week, but the emotional toll is sometimes overbearing.

"Every day the truck comes in bringing more cats and dogs and kittens and puppies and it's really hard on us to see that," said Seaman.

There are approximately 25 volunteers like Seaman who do anything from arranging transportation for the pets to cleaning and even handling offsite adoptions and having two more paid employees will relieve some of the burden.

Taking over some of the duties will allow Animal Control officers to spend less time with shelter maintenance and more time keeping strays off the streets and responding to calls.

"The puppies will get better care and the volunteers can come and spend more time with the animals and we can have better adoptions now and can spend more time with the adoptions and the pets," said Renee Skipper of Dothan Animal Shelter.

The city of Dothan will be releasing information about the "animal care associate" position as soon as the hiring process begins.

It's up to the commission to give the final approval. Once the positions are approved, the city agrees to pay those hired more than $15,000 a year.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.